- PRETTY DARK HORSES is a timely dramatic short film set in the world of women's gymnastics. Everyone has seen the smiling child athletes in shiny leotards. Few have seen behind the curtain, a world littered with broken bones and shattered dreams. CYRUS BATTLE, a former gymnast who once glimpsed Olympic glory, but had fallen short, returns to his humble beginnings in a slum area of South Philadelphia known as the FORGOTTEN BOTTOM. Cyrus reluctantly begins coaching in a gym that is a factory, churning out Olympic hopefuls. In the midst of this environment, Cyrus begins training a thirteen year old who everyone else has overlooked and written off; MARE RIPLEY, a girl who just wants to become good enough to earn a coveted scholarship to a college gymnastics team. It's her only shot out of the ghetto. But when coach and gymnast bond in a relationship driven by pure love of the sport, Mare starts to exceed all expectations.
- PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA- MARE RIPLEY (13) - a precocious half Black, half Irish gymnast - has been passed over by the National team coaches at her gym PEGASUS ELITE GYMNASTICS (PEG) year after year. Now too old for an international career, Mare has only one dream left: to become good enough by the time she graduates high school to win a coveted athletic scholarship onto a college gymnastics team and leave behind the melting pot slum neighborhood she has grown up in; aptly named the FORGOTTEN BOTTOM. She only has two obstacles. The recreational competitive club gymnastics team isn't likely to get her noticed by college scouts. The second problem is, she isn't good enough. Her coach ROSE LAKES has a big heart. But Rose can't teach her the big skills. Along comes CYRUS BATTLE (47) - an African American alumni of PEG. He was rescued from the streets by a caring coach and ended up nearly making the Olympic team. Gymnastics was his ticket out of the Bottom. He received a college scholarship and became an NCAA champ. He headlined a European Acrobatic circus show. And finally he became a Hollywood stuntman. But during a stunt, he shattered his hip. With his career went the women, the money and all his Hollywood friends. Cyrus ended up right back where he started: the old neighborhood he swore he would never return to. Bitter and broke, Cyrus is forced to take a job coaching the rec-com team at PEG. Everything changes when he meets and begins training Mare. Soon everyone at PEG begins to take notice when Mare actually begins outshining the Olympic hopefuls. As the season starts, Mare begins to win big. But when Mare dislocates her knee, it looks like everything is over. The other coaches at the gym, seeing an opportunity to get rid of Cyrus, fire him, labeling him a dangerous coach. Visiting Mare, Cyrus discovers that Mare's mother is CASSANDRA (42) - an Irish ex-rhythmic gymnastics star... and Cyrus' former lover. Things take an even stranger turn when Cyrus learns that Mare is the daughter he never knew he had. Driven not by gold medals or Olympic dreams, but by a pure love of the sport, Cyrus helps Mare rehabilitate her knee and train in a broken down open workout recreation center. Now Mare and Cyrus have a second chance to prove that a dark horse can win. Because when you come from The Bottom... there's only one way out.
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